Harley, after taking a nice hot shower glanced up at the clock just above his bedroom door. It was well past ten pm and since that afternoon, he didn’t see Hope anymore. In fact, he didn’t see her at all since she left for Ace’s house. She didn’t have lunch together with her siblings and Harley as usual, nor even dinner. She completely vanished since the afternoon.
He didn’t want to go knocking against Ace’s door because he didn’t want to come off as being desperate since she had always been disappearing off sometimes. It wasn’t a new thing for him. The only difference was that she told him when she would be back, but this time, she didn’t.
He tossed the towel to the bed after drying up his hair and reached for his phone by the head of the bed. He instantly sent a message asking where she was but the receiving mark showed her phone wasn’t even on.
He tapped agaisnt the call icon only to have it tell him that the caller ID could not be found.
Which only meant one thing.
Her phone was off.
He stared at the screen as at slowly dimes up until the black screen was the only thing left. Almost anxious to know where she was and what she was doing.
He quickly grabbed the shirt hanging from the edge of the bed and pulled it over his head before walking towards the closet where he pulled out some grey shorts. He quickly pulled it on and hurried out the door with his phone in his hands.
The corridor was deserted and ghostly since it was nearly midnight and the rest of the mansion staff workers had retied to their rooms already. A few staff members could be seen walking around, but those were just guards or one of the workers that couldn’t sleep just yet.
He made his way to Hope’s door just around the corner and knocked against it.
She might as well be asleep.
After a few more knocks, he reached for the handle and opens the door slowly, not wanting to make much of a noise.
He quietly peeped into the room and scanned around the place until his eyes fell onto Hope who was lying fast asleep on the bed.
A sigh of relief spread across his lips before he quietly stepped in and tiptoed towards the bed as he bit his lower lip, holding back an relieved smile.
He reached the bed and squatted in front of Hope who was deep in slumber, barely covered by the blanket she tried to wrap herself in. His eyes traced around her face and smiled as he reached out, brushing the hair from her face to the back of her head.
Her soft breathing was almost as though she was dead in sleep. But Harley knew too well she was just a very silent breather but had very rough sleeping positions. Almost impossible to sleep on the same bed with her.
The last time he shared a bed with her wasn’t long infact. It was just last winter when she couldn’t bare with the coldness when she tried to call asleep, so she insisted that he shared the same bed with him. Since she didn’t know his true feelings, she didn’t find it as much of a problem and since he wasn’t aware of his true feelings, he didn’t find it as much of a problem.
His eyes dropped onto her lips once more as he reminded himself of the last time they were together before she disappeared. His tongue slithered across his lips before he shook his head, trying to brush away the attempting thought of it.
He reached over to her hair and gathered a handful before reaching for the ribbon by the headboard of the bed. He tied the hair into a messy loose bun since he didn’t want to wake her, only to feel his blood run cold as his eyes stared down at her neck.
There was a bite mark right below her jawline in clear red and almost too recent. Another mark peeping from under the blanket on her shoulder caught his eye. He carefully pulled the blanket away from. her shoulder only to notice the fresh bite mark on her shoulder, her chest and her upper left arm.
They weren’t just any kind of bite marks, they were love bite marks. The only time that…
He clenched onto his jaw tightly as he stared at the mark on her neck, feeling a sick nauseating feeling build up in his throat from the thought of her actually allowing Ace to mate with her when she had clearly just kissed him some hours before.
He batted his eyelids as he took in a sharp breath, feeling the irritation and jealousy actually run through his blood for the first time with such an effect.
He didn’t feel jealous because Ace had managed to get to her before he did, he felt mostly hurt and betrayed by her knowing she chose Ace over him despite his efforts trying to make things work.
Shutting his eyes, he tried to suppress the anger as he slowly got up to his feet and clenched his fists. Letting out a shaky sigh, he reached for the blanket and pulled it over her shoulders before walking out the door in irritation.
He closed the door behind him until he heard the door click shut behind him.
He leaned back against it as he felt his body grow tense before suddenly getting limp as he finally accepted Hope was never going to see him as a man.
He slowly slid down the door until he sat down with his knees folded to his chest as he bit onto his lower lip, resisting the urge to cry.
He shut his eyes, biting hard onto his lip as he felt the nagging feeling of defeat and the disgusting feeling of failure crepes over his body as he hugged himself.
Hope slowly opened her eyes the moment she heard the door close and sighed out shakily, knowing exactly what he noticed on her body.
The love bites Ace had marked on her deliberately without her knowing.
The moment she arrived at his place, his intentions were to make her his in fear of Harley getting his way with her. So he managed to seductively convince her enough and by the time she noticed he bit her all over, was the moment looked into the mirror before leaving his house.